“Ah, no, sir! It’s… the sky! Look at the sky!”
Whiiiiiiiiine!!
The sound came almost at the same time.
It was different from the rumble of tank engines. Not a vibration carried through the ground, but the roar of massive engines plunging down from above the gray storm clouds.
“Huh…?”
Hanna raised her head and looked up at the snow-filled sky. Through the ashen smoke and the heavy falling snow, enormous monstrous birds spread their dark green wings and descended like heralds of Christmas.
Screeeeeeeeech—!
A ghastly shriek that sent a chill down the spine.
A sharp metallic wail, as if tearing the sky apart, blanketed the ruins of Rosenheim. Imperial and Republican soldiers alike all raised their heads and stared only at the sky.
No one could take their eyes off the green spectacle plunging vertically through the heavy snow.
Rumble! Kwang!
The falling 250-kilogram bombs accurately crushed the backs of the Republican tanks parked amid the ruins. The steel monsters that had tormented us for three days flipped over helplessly on the white snowfield, blossoming into scarlet flowers of flame.
Shoooooooom——!
Then came the low-altitude flyby. The attack aircraft swept over our heads at a height of only a few dozen meters. The heat from their engines was enough to bring feeling back to the tips of our noses, if only for a moment.
Drrrrrrrrrk—!
Kwakakakwang!
Machine-gun fire overturned the streets of Rosenheim in an instant. Republican infantrymen who had been resting were shredded into ground meat before they could even scream. Hot shell casings and snowflakes rained down together over our heads.
“…Luftwaffe.”
With someone’s murmur, the master of the sky changed.
The black Iron Cross insignia was clearly emblazoned on the wings.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“It’s the air force! The air force is here!”
The soldiers cheered and waved their rifles. But the true spectacle came afterward.
In the wake of the attack aircraft, massive shadows pierced through the clouds once more. They were too low and too slow to be bombers.
“T-transport planes! It’s supplies! Presents are coming! Santa Claus!! Is coming!!!”
What covered the skies above Rosenheim was a formation of enormous transport planes. Boldly lowering their altitude, they opened their bellies and began pouring out countless parachutes.
Shooooo— thud. Thud.
Black dots fell from the sky like rain. White parachutes poured down over the ruins of Rosenheim like dandelion seeds.
The most beautiful Christmas gift falling upon a hellish battlefield.
Thud, thud, thud!
Right in front of the bakery building where we were hiding, a large wooden crate slammed into the thick pile of snow without fail.
Koo—ng!
Kurt charged out like a madman, plowing through the snow, and tore open the crate.
“A-ammunition! Rifle rounds, grenades…!”
“There are medical supplies too! Bandages! Morphine!”
“Captain! Look at this! It’s real! This isn’t a dream!”
The soldiers clutched the supplies and burst into tears.
I staggered over toward the crate. Inside, it was packed full of gleaming, well-oiled 88mm armor-piercing shells.
And beside them lay a neatly wrapped box. It was tied with an unnecessarily luxurious red ribbon.
[Imperial Reserve Coffee Beans - Dawn of Eisenburg]
“Huh…. They really sent it.”
On the side of the box was the imperial crest, along with a short message.
[To Captain Max Jaeger, Hero of the Empire. Return before the flavor of the coffee changes. - P.V.L]
I let out a hollow laugh and picked up the coffee box.
I opened the tin and poured the fragrant ground coffee straight into my mouth. Hot water was a luxury. The bitter, dry powder slid down my throat, but that aroma alone brought on the illusion that I was sitting in a high-class café in Eisenburg.
In other words, it was terribly sweet.
“Ugh….”
It felt as if my nervous system, which had been on the verge of shutting down, was being forcibly awakened.
Bzzzt!
At the same time, Hermann’s laughter came over the radio.
[Captain Jaeger! Are you seeing this?! Armor-piercing shells… Armor-piercing shells are falling from the sky!!]
His voice rang out so loudly I wondered if the radio might break.
“Good. Now let’s begin the counterattack.”
[Just what I was hoping for!]
I set down the radio and glared ahead.
The Republican positions had been thrown into chaos by the bombing. They were panicking and running about in confusion.
‘Status Analysis.’
[Name: Raymond]
[Status: Confusion]
[Name: Juste]
[Status: Fear]
[Name: Louis]
[Status: Panic]
[Emotion: Terrified that the 7th Brigade will not die]
The timing was perfect.
“Everyone, to your positions.”
Wiping the coffee grounds and frozen blood from the corners of my mouth, I picked up my rifle again.
“We should give them a Christmas they’ll never forget.”
*
Kwang!
The 88mm anti-aircraft gun belched fire once more. Not the knockoff I had made, but genuine armor-piercing shells precision-machined in an Imperial arsenal.
Kwachik!
“It goes through them like tofu!”
Major Hermann’s air defense battery gleefully pulled the triggers. Now that we had air superiority as well, every 88mm anti-aircraft gun was being committed to ground attack.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Infantry! Push forward with the infantry too!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
“For the Empire!”
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor!”
Not only the men of our company, but surviving troops from every rat hole around us came rushing out.
“Eat this and die, you bastards!”
Dududududu!
“Retreat! Retreat!”
The panicked Republican soldiers were busy turning their backs and fleeing. But there were Imperial troops behind them too.
[Bzzzt! This is 1st Battalion. Cathedral district secured. Remaining enemy forces are fleeing your way.]
The cold voice over the radio belonged to Seraphina.
“Welcome, Major. Drive them this way. We’ll make a sandwich out of them.”
I commanded while looking at the [Minimap].
“Gunther! Take 1st Platoon and block the right alley! Drive them into the central square!”
“Yes, sir! We’ll kill them all!”
The mousetrap had now become a giant grinder, turning in motion.
Gunfire rang out again throughout the city, and screams echoed.
And then, at the decisive moment.
Rumble, rumble….
A vibration that shook the earth came from our rear. I gazed toward the horizon with blurred eyes.
Over the white snowfield, a steel army bearing black Iron Cross banners appeared. The Imperial 1st Armored Division. The finest mechanized unit known as the Emperor’s Guard had arrived.
“Looks like we didn’t even need to step in.”
I let out a faint, wry laugh.
Soon, the enormous steel procession swept past our company.
No, it seemed to.
Screeeech!
The lead tank stopped in place. The dozens of tanks following behind it also halted all at once, as if by prior agreement.
Clank, clank, clank.
The hatches of countless tanks opened simultaneously. Emerging above them were tank commanders dressed in full uniform.
Uniforms untouched by a single stain of grease, the elites of the Imperial 1st Armored Division, proud to the point of arrogance.
They looked down at us. At us rats, covered in sewer filth, drenched in blood, shivering with vacant eyes.
But what filled their eyes was not contempt.
“All units, right face!”
Someone’s command split the ruins.
“Salute the heroes who defended the Empire!”
Snap—!
The hands of hundreds of tank commanders rose in unison. A chilling salute that fell into place with mechanical precision. It was enough to understand that their reputation as the Emperor’s Guard was no empty title.
And their respect was directed solely at us.
At the heroes of Rosenheim, who had been thrown into the battlefield without any warning and had ground away their lives for three days and nights to barely hold this place.
Soon, the door of a command armored vehicle opened.
The one who stepped out was a two-star general. The commander of the 1st Armored Division. Without hesitation, he set foot onto the ground of Rosenheim, where mud and pieces of corpses lay scattered.
Step, step.
He walked right up to me and slowly looked over me and the company members sprawled behind me, as if engraving us into his eyes. Then, very slowly, he raised his hand in salute.
“I’m sorry we’re late.”
He spoke in a voice full of sincerity.
“By His Majesty the Emperor’s command, I have come to escort the hero of the Empire.”
…To think the day would come when I’d receive a salute from a general.
But I gave a faint laugh and returned the salute sloppily with my swaying body.
“Forget the hero part. Please just give me more coffee. It must be precious, because there wasn’t much of it.”
At my joke, the general’s expression twisted strangely for a moment, and then he burst into hearty laughter.
“Hahahaha! So this is what makes a hero!”
He gripped my shoulder tightly.
“Very well, then. From here on, leave the rest to us without a worry. We can hardly keep working a hero of the Empire to the bone.”
“That’s a relief….”
With those words, the general climbed back into the armored vehicle.
“All forces! Advance! Let the vengeance of Rosenheim begin!”
The tanks, their hatches already closed, began to surge forward in unison.
Kwaaaaang!
There was no hesitation in their movements. The tanks advanced while pouring their main guns and autocannons into every bit of debris, every building, every trench where the Republican forces might be hiding.
Bang! Kwakwakwang!
Overwhelming firepower projection.
No matter how superior the Republic might have been to the Empire in technology or tactics, there was no way they could withstand this. They had already been left in tatters by our resistance and the sudden air raid. And their opponent now was the fresh elite of the Imperial armored forces.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Aaaaaaagh!”
There were scenes where one or two Imperial tanks were halted by sporadic resistance, but it was far from enough to change the overall battle. It was like watching a massive tidal wave sweep away a pile of garbage.
The swarming red dots on the [Minimap] began to vanish like the ebbing tide.
“Ah…..”
And the moment I saw that, the tension in me snapped.
[Skill ‘Indomitable Spirit’ is active.]
[Skill ‘Indomitable Spirit’ forcibly maintains consciousness.]
[Skill ‘Indomitable Spirit’ ignores physical pain.]
[Skill ‘Indomitable Spirit’ prevents shock.]
[Indomitable Spirit] noisily filled my notification window. But it was not enough to stop me from collapsing. This was a skill that strengthened my mental fortitude, not one that turned me into a superhuman.
“Ugh….”
The pain I had been ignoring surged in like a broken dam. The recoil from forcibly opening my mana circuits and using [Material Conversion] to its limit, and besides that, frostbitten toes, wounds scraped by shrapnel, the screams of a brain that had stayed awake for days and nights.
The strength left my legs. My vision spun, and the world tilted. The white snowfield touched my cheek like a soft bed. The snow that should have been cold felt warm, which made me think I really had reached the end.
“Kyaaaah! The captain…!!”
Hanna’s scream was my final memory.
And with a faint smile, I closed my eyes.
…It hadn’t been a bad Christmas.